Hi, well I have to do a research regarding this topic (gender neutralization) and do a comparison between Spanish and English language (why English is more neutral, etc) , but I have problems finding documentation/books because my college's library uggg lacks of this type of books, and mostly all useful books xD...so I would like to seek your help, like if you can give me some web address with text or articles about this, in English and Spanish (my google skills are not good enough ). And where I can find news articles (in English, if possible from United States) from 1950 until this date? I have found a couple of websites but they charge like 5 bucks for article, don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying but 5 bucks for a single article? Ugg

Well, I hope you can help me, any type of help will be greatly accepted

Greetings

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You'll have to search a bit (I'm afraid I can't help further as I'm busy:-))

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Steven CapsutoUnited States Local time: 02:37 Spanish to English + ...

The politics of gender - names of professions as an example

Jul 24, 2008

YuckSay wrote:

Hi, well I have to do a research regarding this topic (gender neutralization) and do a comparison between Spanish and English language (why English is more neutral, etc) ,

Part if it comes down to practicality. In English, it was easy linguistically (if not culturally) to shift from "fireman" to "firefighter" or "fisherman" to "fisher," and eliminate sexist terms like "lady doctor" and "male nurse"; whereas in Spanish, it's almost impossible linguistically to come up with natural-sounding job titles that could be seen as gender-neutral, unless we want to replace "pescador" with "pescante", "jardinero" with "jardinante" etc. In other words, it would require more of a linguistic shift. (And even if all Spanish job titles suddenly ended in "-ante" or "-ente," people would surely start using etymologically dubious forms such as "pescanta" as they now do with "presidenta" or "modisto.")

At least in Spain (the Spanish-speaking country I know best), the movement for gender equality has used the exact opposite of the English tactic. In English, the solution was to de-gender job titles. Because that approach is less tenable in Spanish, the feminist movement in Spain promotes *increasing* the use of gendered forms (replacing "la juez" with "la jueza" for example). I also notice that a lot of feminist activists and gay activists in Spain are enamored of paired rhetorical constructions such as "Todos y todas nosotros y nosotras" (or, in writing, "Tod@s nosotr@s", which I used to think was cute but is getting annoying).

It's ironic that opposite solutions can be applied to pursue the same goal, depending on the specifics of the local language.

Good luck with your project!

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Jean-Pierre Bergez SaretzkiUnited Kingdom Local time: 07:37 English to Spanish

The use of pronouns

Jul 25, 2008

Year ago, when "he, his," stopped being seen as including "she, her", except when it was clearly referring to a particular man, and it was regarded as an undesirable macho language supremacy, solutions to the problem (nowadays, "issue") had to be found.

Thus, some people starting using "s/he", "he/she", "his/her" and “they, their" in singular sentences (being discussed now in another thread).

However, another solution was at hand, one with less impact on syntax. If I remember well, (not 100% sure) I think that Prof. Peter Newmark used it for a while in The Linguist when he started using only "she". It was quite odd and striking at first, but once I got used to it, it became as normal and non-gender specific as the old use of "he". It was clear to any discerning reader that a point was being made, and that the use of "she" was not excluding men, and that mixing socio-politics and language gender is trickier than it seems from a daily language usage point of view. (See the mess that is creating in Spanish, for example).

In Spanish, the official rule is still quite clear about it (See the RAE website). The masculine gender includes the feminine (except when referring specifically to a man). And the RAE does not endorse modern uses such as "el/la", "los/las", the use of "@", and so on.

Cheers,
Jean-Pierre

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